Again?
by TheSwarklesLover
Summary: This is my spin on how certain events would go during the finale. Set in the year 2025, mostly consists of Barney and Ellie, some Barney/Robin and Tracy is alive in this. Characters find themselves going through past moments again.
1. Chap 1

I know I already have another story I'm currently working on, but I just had to write this. This idea would never leave my mind for the finale. In my opinion, Barney and Ellie ended up having the greatest love story (excluding the split ones of course). Marshall and Lily have a great relationship, but I found Barney and Ellie hauntingly beautiful and magical. I really have no idea what direction I'm going with this, or if Swarkles will get together or not, we'll see.

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2025

"Daddy, you're home!" she squealed.

"Ellie! How was your day?" he crouched down to her level. After such a tiresome day at work, he needed his little bundle of energy to make him feel better.

"It was legendary! Lucy helped me make crafts for Valentimes Day." she smiled.

"I can see that!" he said laughing. Her blonde hair was covered with assorted colors of glitter. Her hand was colored with red and pink markers and she had been wearing an art smock covered in splatters of paint.

"Yeah, sorry. We lost track of time, and Ellie ended up having too much fun." Lucy giggled.

"Lucy, it's fine. I deal with this stuff everyday." he said reassuringly.

"Daddy, can I go to my room and finish my crafts?" she was practically asking with her blue eyes pleading.

"Okay, five more minutes then." he ruffled her hair.

"Thank you!" she exclaimed before hopping off to her room.

"She's so enthusiastic, how do you even handle all of it?" she asked.

Barney gave her a bit of a confused look at first. "The same way you do. I mean, I think you would know, you're a single parent too. Lisa has come over for play dates with Ellie multiple times, and she's not exactly... the quietest one."

"I guess it's just all the stress that's been building up. Lately, Lisa's been coming up to me a lot, asking questions about why she doesn't have a dad." she explained.

Barney nodded. "I get it, I've been getting the same stuff lately. Ellie wants to know why I've met to marry a princess, move to a castle, and live happily ever after as a family."

There was a small pause. "Kids really don't get it, do they? How hard that fantasy it is?" Lucy said.

"Yeah, it gets really tough, and I don't think I'm ever going to try again." he replied glumly.

"Yeah, I've pretty much given up on the whole 'trying' thing too. I believe that I already got my chance at perfect, I failed, now it'll probably never happen to me again." she said sounding somewhat frustrated.

"Tell me about it," he rolls his eyes understanding her pain. "I've watched all my friends grow. My best friend, he's been with the girl of his dreams for twelve years now and has two kids. My other two friends have been together for almost thirty years, and have three kids. And well, I'm.. here." he stammered.

"Well, I mean, you've got Ellie." she tries to reason.

"As much as I love her, she was never a part of the plan. That's kind of the reason she has no mom." he admits.

"Lisa happened kind of late for me, my husband and I never wanted kids, but I was still willing to raise her. I never thought it was going to reach the point where he'd just disappear in the middle of the night and never come back." she shrugged.

"That seems like the kind of crap I used to do." he said.

"What do you mean?" she was puzzled.

"My past wasn't.. the best. I slept around a lot, especially after my divorce, when I was really depressed, and eventually, Ellie happened," he says truthfully. "I'm not that person anymore though, I can't be that person."

"I think that no matter how bad the things people have done in the past were, it's never good to look back at it to beat yourself up, especially if you're a good person now," she realized that he seemed ashamed and tries to make him feel better. "All we can do is look to the future."

"You're right, but it's hard not to when I haven't been giving Ellie everything she needed." he hung his head.

"Oh come on! Ellie loves you. She talks about you all the time. You should have seen the stack of cards she made for you today," she argues. "And, I've been around you guys long enough to know you have been a good father. If you weren't, she wouldn't be so fantastic."

He was so glad to have Lucy as not only Ellie's sitter, but as his own friend. The gang drifted apart after a while, so he couldn't always get his usual speeches from Tracy and Lily, Lucy replaced that when they weren't around. "Ellie is pretty awesome, isn't she?" he says smiling.

"Yeah, she is." Lucy nods happily.

"You do a great job with Lisa too." he compliments.

"Thanks," she says softly. "I have to go pick up Lisa from a sleepover now, so I think I'll-

"Lucy! Lucy, wait!" Ellie came out of her room running.

"Ellie, what's gotten into you?" Lucy asked shocked.

"I made you a card. Happy Valemtimes Day." Ellie beamed.

Lucy crouched down to her level and hugged her. "Aw, thank you Ellie! This is so sweet!"

"Daddy, I made you these ones too!" Ellie exclaims, presenting Barney with what looked like about a dozen cards.

"All of these are mine?!" Barney said gratefully.

"Yup," she nods. "And I got theses for Auntie Tracy, Auntie Lily, Uncle Marshall, Uncle Te-"

"Whoa, slow down kiddo. I don't even know if you'll be able to give them these cards today."

"But, daddy! It's Valentimes day! We have to!" she pouted.

"Ellie, I'm with your daddy on this. He's probably had a long day. You can give the cards to them another day." Lucy tried to reason with her.

"But, I have to! Today, Miss. Cory's prince charming came into class and brought her a gigantic Teddy bear! She was so happy! I have to make my friends happy too!"

"Ellie.. you don't have to show big gestures to show how much you love someone. It shouldn't count." he can't help but think back to when he proposed to Robin thirteen years ago, he quickly shakes his head, trying not to think about it.

"Okay. But we still get to play Laser Tag on my birthday this year, right? It's our tradrition."

"If you think I'm going to bail on laser tag this year, you must be insane. Of course we'll do laser tag, it's always going to be our 'tradrition'." he laughs.

"Thank you, daddy! I love you. Sorry I gots mad at you." she hung her head.

"Aw, it's okay. You're still a good girl." he says hugging her.

"Well, you two have a good day. I have to go pick up Lisa now, I promised her brunch today." Lucy said.

"Say goodbye to Lucy, Ellie!"

"Bye, Lucy. Have a good Valentimes Day!" Ellie said energetically.

"Bye, Ellie." Lucy waved before shutting the door.

"So, what are we doing this Valentimes Day?" Ellie asks curiously.

"Well, I thought we could watch this Charlie Brown Valentines Day special, or we could just watch some Pixar movies." he gave her an option.

"Can we watch them all?!" Ellie asks ecstatically.

"All of them it is," he said nodding. "You can sit on the couch while I make us some popcorn."

"I'm so excited!" she exclaimed, leaping onto the couch.

He had originally planned to watch some Disney princess movies with her, but his conversation with Lucy really got him thinking. Those Disney fairytale movies really are full of bullshit. They make falling in love so easy. They make not being in love seem easy, because of course, the movie always had to open up with the princess singing about how wonderful her life was or something. As ridiculous as it sounded, he didn't want Ellie to be watching those movies anymore, they'd only make her falsely believe things. He'd preferred Pixar anyways, those ones always painted a good idea of friendship, something easier to find in life; and something he was blessed to have.

"Daddy, are you coming?" Ellie called out.

"Yeah, just give me a minute!" he replied back.

Barney rushed, nearly burning himself with the popcorn bag when pouring it in a bowl. He wanted to hurry because he'd promised Ellie he'd spend this day with her since he had such a busy week at work, that he couldn't even spend time with her.

"Daddy, I change my mind, I don't want to watch those movies." Ellie said sitting up.

"Well, what'd you have in mind?" he asked confused.

"I want to watch the trigoly with you, like you do with Uncle Marshall and Ted!" she said proudly.

Barney was truly amazed. He knew his daughter was awesome, but this was beyond his wildest dreams. "Of course!" he said trying to contain his excitement.

After having watched through the whole series, Ellie had fell sound asleep on the leather couch.

"That was legendary." Ellie said groggily as credits rolled down the 300 in. TV, illuminating the living room a bit.

"Time to get you to bed." he said as he picked her up and carried her to bed.

After having had a long day, he decided he should go to bed too. He went back into the living room to put some items back in the kitchen. As he was about to leave, he heard a knocking on the door. This late at night? He was ready to tell this person to leave, he was in no mood for visitors.

"Listen.. it's late and-" he was shocked when he realized who was at the door. "Robin?"

* * *

Lol, I'm sorry I pulled the, 'unexpected person at the door and end the chapter there cliche', I just had to. Should I continue, yes, no, maybe?


	2. Together Again

I'm so glad everyone enjoyed the first chapter! Thank you so much for all the reviews, favorites, and follows, it really does mean a lot! Any other writers reading this, I request you keep going with all these alternate ending type fics, I've really been enjoying them. :) I'll update my other story soon, I'm suffering from a little writer's block so it might be a little delayed. This chapter isn't all that dramatic, it mostly has cute Ellie and Barney moments. I hope that isn't too boring, but it's a longer chapter so that's good.

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"Robin...?" he asked puzzled.

"Hi."

"Um.. you want to tell me why you're here?" he asked still confused.

"I had a new assignment, and well, it's in New York City." she explained.

"No, I mean why are you _here_? As in my apartment."

"Oh, yeah. Well, my hotel was nearby, so I thought I could come and say hi." she said awkwardly.

"This late at night?" he grumbled.

"It's only 10:30 P.M." she said as she looked down at her watch.

"Do you have any idea how late that is in parents' time?" he muttered.

"Oh, I'm sorry." she apologized.

"No, I'm sorry. Sorry I seem pissed, I've just had a really long day with Ellie." he said rubbing his eyes.

"Oh, Ellie. How is she?" she asked smiling.

"She's just great. I love her so much." he replied.

"I'm really happy for you." she grinned.

"Me too. It's nice to see all the success you have." he nodded.

"Well, I guess I came at a sort of bad time. So I guess I'll leave." she said somewhat embarrassed.

"Robin, wait. You can stay and talk a little if you want to. The gang says seeing you is about as rare as yeti at this point, and it's pretty accurate. We've all missed you."

"No, I think I should go. You do seem tired, besides, I'll be in New York for a whole month, I'll promise to find time to spend with the gang." she assures him.

"It'll be impossible to spend a lot of time together nowadays. All of us have gotten so busy with our lives, especially you. We always tell each other we'll find time to spend time with each other, but we never do. It just sucks.. it sucks." he said frustrated.

"But this time I promise, I'll try and spend more time with you guys with the month I have here!" she tried to reason with him.

"Oh, okay, you're willing to try and spend more time with the gang, but you couldn't for your husband." he retorted. He was obviously tired and grumpy. He regretted what he said immediately.

"Excuse me? You know I-"

"Robin, stop. I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. That was stupid of me to say. I'm just really tired right now, I say things I don't mean." he apologized.

She slowly nodded. She understood he had apologized, but she was still angry with him. It was her job. She'd always blamed the divorce on him, but he started to make her feel as if it was her fault. She didn't want to deal with this anymore. "I think I'll ... um go." she excused herself and left.

Barney awkwardly waved at her as he shut the door. Seriously, what the hell was that? Why did he say that? He hadn't seen her in so long, and that was greeting he gave to her. By the way she left, he could just tell she was angry, even though she pretended to be okay with it. He stormed into his room, still upset with himself. He just wanted to sleep it off. He felt the fact he was tired might have been making him more anxious than he should be.

After waking up the first that popped up in his head was Robin. Dammit. Dammit! Why? Why was it such a big deal still? It had been nothing more than a misconception. Would Robin still want to hang out with him? Would the gang even take his side on this issue? Probably not. They all assumed that any conflict involving him meant he was the wrong one in the situation. Lily always had supported Robin more throughout the divorce, he found it pretty biased of her just because they were gal friends. Of course Marshall had to stick with Lily on it too. Ted had also taken Robin's side. Tracy was really the only one who stayed pretty neutral about it, she said that taking sides would hurt the gang's friendship. Unfortunately, she had somewhat predicted it, after the divorce, the gang began to drift apart. First it was just once a week, then one or two times a month, and eventually it became only meeting up a few times in a whole year.

The gang was truly not what it was before. They weren't the cool New Yorkers in their 20's hanging out at the bar everyday, living the life. They were all a bunch of boring people in their 40's who couldn't even be considered a 'gang' anymore, considering they almost never hung out as a whole. Pondering about all these things made him wonder if he'd played a role in breaking up the gang. He tried not to blame himself for things, but it was hard not to think of when it was a possibility. He tightly shut his eyes and put his palms over his face and took some deep breaths. He needed to calm down. If he were talking to 2005 Barney, he'd probably look a 2025 Barney and laugh. Twenty years ago he wouldn't have been this kind of guy, he was always so anxious about things now. Not that he wanted to go back and relive his womanizing past, he'd probably want that erased completely. He just wished he still had that carefree quality of not overlooking everything.

He sat from his bed and went on with his morning routine. He figured Ellie wouldn't be awake considering how late she was up last night. Good thing it was a Saturday, there was no way she'd up and ready for school today if it was a weekday. He took out his phone and decided to at least tell the gang that he saw her. After sending a group text, he got almost immediate responses.

They all asked something along the lines of 'Really?', and 'What happened?'. He simply texted back, 'Could we all meet up at my place today?'. He figured it was best since Robin was close by. Everyone seemed in agreement and decided to come over at noon. He still needed to ask Robin though, he didn't even know her number anymore. Since they never talked, he had to go through his contacts list, finally finding her number towards the bottom. A silly as it seemed, he wasn't really sure how to invite her, he figured he should call her. He dialed her number and hoped for her to pick up.

Ringing. Ringing. Then, "Hello?"

"Hi, Robin. It's Barney." he said slowly.

"Oh, um, hey."

"I was wondering if.. you wanted to come over to my place this afternoon. It'll be all of the gang." he said hopefully.

"You know, I think I'm free. That sounds great. It'll be nice seeing everyone again." she said happily.

"Oh, and Robin, about what I said yester-"

"Barney.. it's fine." she assured him.

"Well, okay, I guess I'll see you." he nodded.

"I guess I will."

"Bye."

"Bye."

After he hung up, he had a moment of relief. She wasn't mad, or at least didn't seem so.

"Daddy, I'm awake!" Ellie announced as she came out of her room.

"Morning, Ellie." he smiled.

"Can I give my cards to all my friends today?" Ellie asked.

"Yup. Uncle Marshall, Uncle Ted, Auntie Tracy, and Auntie Lily are all coming over today."

"Yay!" Ellie cheered.

"Today, you get to meet one of daddy's new friends today too. She's very nice."

"Will I like her?" she questioned.

Barney chuckled a little at the concern on her face. "I'm sure you will."

"What's her name?"

"Her name is Robin." he replied.

"Like a bird? Is she a bird? Can we buy her bird food? I love birds!" she said excitedly.

Barney couldn't help but chuckle at how wonderfully amusing his daughter could be. "No, she's not a bird. She's my friend."

"But, you can be friends with animals! Remember when we took that bird to live with us when it had a broken wing? That birdie was nice!" she exclaimed.

"Nice? Ellie, that bird attacked me when we were letting it go."

"That birdie was sorry, daddy!" Ellie argued.

Barney put his hands up defensively. "Okay,you're right. That birdie was sorry."

"We can't keep getting mad at everyone over something, daddy. We have to forgive, or else we're all sad."

Even though Ellie was merely a five year old, she was 100% correct. It was bad to hold something against someone, if it didn't do any good. He decided he should stop feeling guilty about what he said to Robin last night, she seemed to move on quickly from his rude remark, perhaps he should as well. Part of him still thought Robin wasn't over what he said. She wouldn't have been willing to come over if she was mad. Right. He needed to stop thinking about something so silly. But what if she actually was mad? What if she never forgave him. What if-

"Daddy!" Ellie yelled.

"Um.. what?" he asked lost in thought.

"You weren't talking, you were just sitting there looking sad. Stop being sad. You always tell to stop being sad and be awesome instead."

Barney smiled. "Yeah, it was nothing. My mind just went blank."

Ellie stared at him, not convinced. "Are you fibbing? Miss. Cory says it's not good to fib."

"Wha- I'm not fibbing!" he said panicked.

"Sure." she replied sarcastically.

"Ellie, can you just be cool? Once! Please!" he said in a childish voice.

"Fine." Ellie muttered, though she didn't like the fact her daddy wasn't telling her something.

"So are you excited to see your Uncles and aunts again?" Barney quickly asked changing the topic.

"Yes!" she beamed.

"I think we should go set up for this. Do you want to come to the store with me and buy some stuff?"

"Sounds boring." she said as she sunk into the couch.

"I'll buy you candy."

Ellie's eyes widened. "Deal."

After having shopped for what would be a special occasion, Barney began to set up the apartment.

"Ellie, can you help me set up?" he asked.

"Can I have my candy now?" Ellie ignored his request.

"Not now, Ellie." he said growing a bit frustrated.

"Please, please, please!" she begged.

He sighed. "Only if you help me."

"Okay!" she happily agreed running over to help with the bags.

A bell rang. Dammit, looked like someone came early. He opened the door to see Ted and Tracy.

"Hi, guys!" Barney greeted.

"Hey, bro. It's been a while." Ted smiled.

"It really has." Barney said as he leaned in to hug them both.

"Auntie Tracy and Uncle Ted!" Ellie came running.

"Hey, Ellie!" Tracy laughed as she patted Ellie on the head.

"We missed you, Ellie." Ted chuckled.

"I missed both of you two." Ellie said hugging them.

As they walked in, Marshall and Lily arrived as well. With in a second it became and uproar of greetings, it was really nice to have the gang together again.

"So, is Robin coming?" Ted asked.

"She should be, she said she'd come." Barney shrugged.

"Well, that's nice. How'd you even run into her?" Tracy questioned.

"She came at 10:30 P.M. and-"

"10:30?! Does she know how late that is in parents' time?" Marshall said shocked.

"That's exactly what I asked her. Anyways, she came by to my place to say hi since she's on assignment here and her hotel was nearby. I told her I didn't have time to talk to her, but I told her she could come over the next evening." he explained.

"I see," Lily nodded and then turned to Ellie. "So, Ellie, how's Kindergarten been for you?"

"It's so fun! I get to draw all the time and make crafts, and there's so much glitter there!" Ellie marveled.

"Oooh, you want to be an artist like your Aunt Lily some day?" Lily asked hopefully.

"I don't know, Lil. I see her being more of an architect. Have you seen all the legos she has?" Ted suggested.

"Yeah, because you buy them for her every year on her birthday! Does she even play with them?" Lily argued.

"Actually, yes. She's been working on this awesome fort for weeks now!" Barney marveled.

"Daddy, it's a castle, not a fort! Forts are for boys." Ellie corrected.

"Guys, Ellie loves nature. She loves animals. You just know she's going to get into environmental law." Marshall joined the conversation.

"I do love animals. But I guess daddy doesn't." she said giving him a cold stare, thinking back to him complaining about the bird attacking him.

Tracy joined the conversation as well. "You guys are all wrong. Ellie's imaginative, she's going to be a writer." she said laughing.

Ellie looked at her dad's friends in wonder. "Can I be all those things, daddy?"

"If you believe you can. It won't be easy though." he warned her.

"I want to be like that bird! I want to fly!" Ellie exclaimed.

"Into my face." Barney muttered.

"What?" she gazed at him.

"Nothing," he lied. "So, how have your kids been, guys?" he said facing Marshall, Lily, Ted, and Tracy, ignoring the look on Ellie's face.

"Everything's just been so hectic with three kids around. Daisy and Keeva will not stop fighting! And Marvin's been so moody around us lately, I guess that happens to thirteen year olds. Be lucky that Ellie's still in the phase where she always wants to be around you, pretty soon that goes away." Lily fretted.

"What do you mean? I'm always going to love my daddy." Ellie smiled.

"That's what they all say and then they start to-"

"Lily, just.. okay!" Barney said clearly annoyed.

"I'm just saying. You think some connection is going to last forever, and it doesn't, just look at the gang. Hell, a member isn't even here yet."

There was a pause that seemed to last for eternity. Everyone knew Lily was right. Something.. break the silence!

A knock at the door. "That's probably Robin!" Barney jumped up, thankful that the silence broke. He ran towards the door and opened it.

"Robin, hey!" he said smiling as he stood by the door.

"Hey, Barney." she smiled back.

"Come on in." he welcomed her.

As she walked in, all of the gang stood up to give her hugs, and talk about how much they missed her. Ellie stood there staring. She was always excited about meeting new people. Everyone eventually settled down back into their seats. Robin noticed her, and crouched to her level.

"You must be Ellie!"

"Hey, aren't you the TV lady?!" she guessed.

Robin nodded. "Why, yes I am the 'TV Lady'. But, call me Robin."

"Oh yeah, daddy told me. He doesn't like birds."

Robin turns to Barney as if to say, 'What's she talking about?', and he returns a look to say, 'It's nothing.'

Barney originally planned to get some Glenn McKennas, but he decided he didn't didn't want to drink in front of Ellie, and instead got some sparkling.

"This stuff isn't real!" Robin complained.

"We're all old people now. We need to relax a bit, we're not young anymore." Marshall said agreeing with Barney's decision.

"Now, if you don't mind, everyone, I want to propose a toast," Ted said raising his glass. "To one hell of a woman, Tracy. You're an awesome person, we're all relieved you're still here. You're so freaking strong, cancer is the worst battle someone would have to fight, but you made it. We'd all be messes without you, but mostly me. I need the woman who understands my coin fetish around me whenever I get excited over winning a tour to the U.S. Mint. I need the woman to be the awesome Mother to my kids. Hell, I just need you, everyday. By my side, until the day we die."

By the end of the speech, everyone tried to hide the fact that they'd been crying, but it was impossible. Practically everyone was leaning towards the tissue box on the coffee table. The speech made Barney realize, he didn't have what Ted did. A wife. Someone he can grow old with and love forever. He didn't have a Mother for Ellie which made life harder for her. Why couldn't he have that perfect life? Lily was right, Ellie would grow old one day, and eventually move out. And he would always be alone. 'I don't want to be alone ever again' he said to himself. In that moment, he realized what he truly wanted.

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So, I hope this chapter wasn't boring! :) Please review and tell me what you think.


	3. Blame

Thank you all so much for all the positive feedback! It really does mean a lot. A reviewer said they would like Lucy and Barney in the end, well, all I can say is I've planned to have some "Team Lucy" and "Team Robin" type stuff. I was going to ask in the last chapter, but I decided it was too soon to ask, I decided now, I might as well just tell you since a reviewer has brought it up anyways. This chapter might change your mind on it, I tried really hard to to demonize a particular character I hated in the finale, but I ended up doing it anyway, especially towards the end. I think the way I did it was more realistic though, so I hope it's not a problem.

* * *

Yes. That was what he wanted. He nodded his head slightly after he heard Ted's speech about Tracy. Barney was truly happy Tracy had been able to fight the cancer, Ellie looks up to her as a mother figure. Well, not just Ellie, everyone. In rough times, the gang always found themselves at some point going to Tracy for advice. She was always a good talker and knew exactly the right things to say. Barney usually came to her for parenting help when the pressure of being a single father sometimes became unbearable for him. About a year or so ago, Ellie had been asking a lot of questions about why she didn't have a mother and Barney wasn't sure how to answer. It became even more difficult to tell Ellie the truth when one day she came home crying, saying she wanted a mommy, and that it was unfair she didn't have one. Apparently, all the kids' mothers had come over to play activities with their kids in Pre-K, she was the only one without one. Barney decided to leave her in Lucy's care to go talk to Tracy privately about the issue. Barney began to talk about how badly he screwed up in not being able to give Ellie a good life, and how she needed a mother.

Through the conversation, Barney seemed about ready to have a panic attack, but she gave him the advice she gave everyone; three deep breaths. She allowed him to settle down, and he began to talk about his thoughts. He shamefully admitted that he was considering simply giving Ellie up to a family that could put her in better hands. He felt selfish when he said it, the fact was, he was the problem, not Ellie. When he admitted it, one of the longest moments of silence ever ensued. After what seemed like an eternity, Tracy finally spoke. All she told him was to 'Make the right decision.' After that came another pause, and Barney simply left. Neither of them had spoken of the moment since. Thinking back to the moment made him cringe a little, would Ellie still love him knowing he was ready to give her up? He really wanted to do it because he loved her, but he realized, Ellie was the only thing holding him back from becoming a total wreck again. He needed her. When he made the decision to keep Ellie, he realized what Tracy really meant by 'make the right decision'. She wasn't hinting towards keeping or giving away Ellie, no, she was telling him to make the decision that would be the best situation for them both. A year later, it seemed he did make the right decision. He glanced at Tracy, and she looked back at him for a few seconds, and the both of them nodded, as if they were both thinking back to that conversation they had.

Tracy then turned her head towards Robin. "So, how's your journalism career been nowadays?"

She nodded and smiled. "It's been really great, I've been so busy traveling around, but it's nice to be somewhere familiar once in a while."

"So, where are you going after this?" Tracy asked.

"Well I'll be staying New York for a month, and after that I'm going to Rome, I believe."

"Ooooh, loved Rome! It's so lovely there, I think you'll really enjoy it!" Lily said excitedly.

"And they have the BEST gelato there, it's absolutely delicious. It tastes so divine and-"

"Marshall, I'm going to stop you there before you get into another one of your majestic speeches about food." Lily said putting her hand up.

"Wha- My speeches aren't 'majestic', I just have a lot of passion for food!" he argued.

"Yeah buddy, I think we all remember that speech about that burger you gave us." Barney chuckled.

"Is this burger as good as you say it is, Ted told me the story. It sounded so hectic.. and then there was Regis Philbin?" Tracy turned her head towards Ted questioningly, to which he nodded. "You really went through all that trouble for just a burger?"

Marshall spit his drink out at the words. "Just a- I'm sorry I don't follow you, it isn't just a- just a burger." Marshall said somewhat frustrated.

"See what you've done?" Lily whispered rather harshly as she glared at Tracy.

"Tracy, it's so much more than just a burger. I mean, that first bite, oh, what heaven that first bite is. The bun, sesame-freckled breast of an angel resting gently on the ketchup and mustard below. Flavors mingling in a seductive pas de deux. And then, a pickle! The most playful little pickle. Then a slice of tomato, a leaf of lettuce, and a patty of ground beef so exquisite. Swirling in your mouth breaking apart and combining again in a fugue of sweet and savory so delightful. This is no mere sandwich of grilled meat and toasted bread, Tracy. This is God, speaking to us through food." Marshall spoke compassionately throughout the whole speech.

Tracy stared at Marshall in awe and nodded slowly. "Um.. wow. I'm sorry I asked.."

"We should totally go to that burger place again!" Marshall jumped up excitedly. He turned towards Lily to ask for approval, to which she shook her head.

"Baby, that's crazy. We haven't even been there in like what.. 17 years?" Lily tried to reason with Marshall.

"But Tracy hasn't-" he tried to argue.

"No buts!" Lily scolded him like a child.

"Fine." he said curtly, sinking into the leather chair.

"Now, where were we again?" Ted asked slightly chuckling.

"I think we were asking Robin about her traveling to Rome." Tracy responded.

"Ah yes. Rome, I'll be leaving for there after a month." she replied, nodding.

"How long are you going to be there for?" Lily asked.

"Well, I'll be staying there for about three months, then I have to go off to Portugal to cover a project." she answered.

"Doesn't it ever get hard.. you know, traveling so much?" Tracy wondered.

"At first it was pretty tough, but I've gotten use to it, in fact I've really grown to love travel. Having nothing to get in your way really helps too."

_'Having nothing in your way.'_ At those words, Barney sent Robin a cold stare. How dare she? How dare she say that after he was willing to help her achieve her dreams. How dare she say that after she never devoted enough time with him? How dare she so obviously have that be directed at him? Why would she say that, surely he wasn't looking too much into it? Was she really so-

"Barney!" Ted called out.

"Uh- huh.. what?" he said cluelessly.

"You kind of blanked out there for a minute, something bothering you?" Ted asked with concern in his voice.

"Uh no, um..it's just some stuff at work going on." he lied.

"You sure?" Tracy was still not convinced.

"Guys, I'm fine. Don't worry." he tried to assure them.

"If anything's the matter, you just tell us, okay?" Lily smiled.

He nodded. It shouldn't bother him so much, but for some reason it did. He didn't like thinking about, and instead started a new conversation. "So Tracy, you're starting to write a new novel, Ted never stops talking about it."

"It's only natural! Her last one was a New York Times Bestseller, and this one is going to be just as great!" Ted declared energetically.

Tracy chuckled at her husband's excitement. "Yeah, this one will have a totally different genre. This one is about the history of coins generally, but there'll be more stuff in there like the process of minting, you know, all that interesting stuff.

"Ahh." everyone seemed to say in unison, terribly trying to hide the fact they were uninterested.

"Sounds boring!" Ellie declared, she was silent for a while, some seemed to forget she was there.

"Ellie!" Barney gave her a scolded her.

"Yeah, but all the fun books I read have princess and queens and-"

"Ellie," he repeated angrily. "Stop."

Tracy merely laughed at Ellie's reaction and took something out of her pocket, handing it to Ellie. "Ellie, this is a coin of queen Elisabeth, since you like queens so much thought I could give this to you."

"Trace, that's the only one we have in our collection! Why would you give it to her!" Ted complained like a small child.

"Oh my gosh, will you relax?! She's just a kid, and her birthday is coming up soon, I thought I might give her a little gift."

"Fine." Ted rolled his eyes.

"Is this Queen Elsa, aunt Tracy?!" Ellie asked excitedly.

"It's Elisabeth! Elisabeth!" Ted barked, rising from the couch to which Tracy pulled him down.

Ellie looked somewhat terrified of Ted's reaction, Tracy gently touched her shoulder. "Sweetie, it's queen Elisabeth, but if you really want, you can call her Elsa."

Ellie smiled and turned to Barney. "Daddy, can I start a coin collection?"

"Well, I don't have any opposition to it. Maybe your Aunt Tracy and Uncle Ted could help you get started?"

"Oh, Aunt Tracy, you'll help me? Please, please, please!" Ellie pleaded.

"Of course I'll help you, silly! We can get started the next time I see you at your birthday party."

"Thank you!" Ellie exclaimed as she hugged Tracy.

"You know, Ellie, I travel a lot so I have some coins from other countries you could have," Robin reached into her clutch and pulled out some coins. "Here are some. Most of these are coins from Greece, but there are also some ones from France, Germany, Russia, and Morocco."

Ellie looked amazed at all the assortments of coins and giggled, to which Ted rolled his eyes. "She's such an amateur when it comes to collecting coins, seriously Greek coins? That is soo-"

Tracy lightly smacked him across the head to shut him up. "What the hell is wrong with you, why are you being so mean.. to a five year old?" she whispered harshly.

Ted couldn't think of any reasons to defend himself so he gave her a look, as if to say, 'Okay, I'll stop.'

After a lot of conversation, everyone decided to head off home. One by one they all went, first Marshall and Lily, then Ted and Tracy, and Robin was ready to head out after finishing her drink. Barney and Ellie were standing by the door, saying their goodbyes to everyone. After everyone was gone, Ellie left to go to her room.

"Um.. excuse me." Robin said, trying to get past Barney through the door.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get in your way of life again." Barney responded bitterly.

"Wha- I just asked you to move aside, that's all!" she was confused about why he was so angry.

"What the heck was that today?" he gritted his teeth.

"What was what?" she demanded.

"When you said that traveling was easier 'having nothing in your way'. That was totally directed at me! Why are you still so against me!?"

"Whoa, you're jumping to conclusions.. but yeah it was directed at you, I admit that."

"I knew it! Why are you still so angry at me about it, we're supposed to move on from this, not be the bitter divorcees who hate each other."

"I don't.. hate you. Seeing you again, it just brought back.. those feelings."

"What 'feelings', Robin? If this is about what I said the night before, I did apologize, and when I said it, I was still half asleep."

She shook her head. "No it wasn't about that. By 'feelings', I just meant seeing everyone so happy. Look at Ted, he loves Tracy's career, he has the decency to support her dreams, and well you.."

"I what? What did I do that was so wrong? Finish that sentence." he crossed his arms and arched his eyebrow slightly.

Robin snorted a little. "Are you kidding, you don't know what you did wrong?"

"Honestly, I don't. A little help here could be nice." Barney grumbled.

"What _you _did was have no patience. Whenever I'd get an amazing opportunity to do something, you'd always whine, bitch, and complain."

"Me 'always whining, bitching, and complaining' came after it got tiresome, I really was proud of you the first few times it happened, but around the two year mark, it got really old."

"Why was it so hard to just support my career? Was that really so much to ask of you?!"

"You know what? It was. It was too difficult, because your career was the reason you started blocking me out of your life! You- you were never there for me with all the issues I had!"

Robin snorted again. "You have a lot of guts if you're going to say the divorce was _my_ fault."

"Wha- no, Robin. I'm not, it was both our faults. We both had different things going on in our lives and then we couldn't maintain a balance, that was what ultimately broke us apart."

"Well, funny thing about balance. The difference was you were in more control of what went on in your life, but I didn't. You were the reason we couldn't balance things."

At this point, Barney was truly stunned at what she was saying. "So, you're saying it was all _my_ fault?"

Robin nodded. "Pretty much."

Barney smiled a little, but it was more of a bitter one. "It's funny, you keep talking about me like I was a horrible person through our marriage, it makes me wonder why you even married me in the first place."

"Sometimes I wonder the same thing." she replied slyly.

A long pause. Robin didn't even look as if she regretted what she said, she was affirmed to it. It hurt that she would say that, she could think what she wanted, but he'd at least wished he'd kept it to herself. After trying to think of what to say, he finally had the courage to at least say something.

"So, basically everything we ever went through together was just a joke?"

"It wasn't a joke, Barney. I was just referring to the person you became after our divorce, you went so quickly back to your past, it made me realize, you never did change through our marriage."

"Of course I'm not trying to justify what I did, but those were actions of anger and sadness. I was trying to hide my pain, we- I screwed up our marriage. I was filled with so much regret."

"Well, are you _still _that person?" she asked.

He looked at her, baffled. "Of course not! I have Ellie, I'd never do that!"

Robin shrugged. "I only asked because I figured nothing or no one could change you."

"You think a transformation from an insane womanizer to a guy ready settle down with a girl isn't considered 'change'?"

"Where was the 'change', Barney? Just because you settled down doesn't change the fact you still had all your traits of selfishness, dishonesty-"

"Whoa, stop right there. You can feel free to call me any insulting name you want, but you cannot call me dishonest. You_ know _I was always honest to you," he pointed a finger at her. "And you of all people should not be calling me out on dishonesty."

"What do you mean? Are you suggesting I _lied_ to you?"

"It's really impressive, actually. I didn't think you could keep it for so long."

"What lie?!" she was still angry and confused about what he meant.

"Tell me right now, and I won't call you a dishonest person."

"I'm telling you, I don't know!" she yelled.

"Ah, very well. Remember back at our wedding day, when you were ready to run away with Ted without thinking, and talking about how horrible of a person I was?"

She stared at him in shock. "How- How'd you know?"

"It was back in 2017, and Ted was really drunk, in fact he was truth serum drunk. He started blurting out some random things that I didn't really care to know, but then he told me about how you were going to leave, and how he rejected you."

"I need to- um.." she was at a loss for words, she turned towards him and simply nodded. "I think I should go."

"I think you should." he said curtly. And those were the last words she heard from him before he slammed the door behind her.

* * *

I got them in a pretty heated debate about the divorce, if Robin comes off as horrible, that was kind of a goal. If you're for some reason angry about the ending, I'm sorry. I never promised this would be a B/R fic, I'm not saying it isn't, but I wanted to include a fight in here, I think it really showed her selfish ways (assuming because most people disliked her in the finale). Please review and tell me what you thought of this chapter, please tell me if there's anything you'd like to happen, and I might include it. All reviews are appreciated, even criticism, as long as it's constructive.


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